Admittedly a baseball homer, but how can these last two weeks not excite the casual fan. In the American League there are 6 teams vying for 2 playoff spots. The Orioles, The Yankees, The Royals, The Indians, and The Rangers are all within 3.5 games of each other. Most teams have 12 games or less left to play. After 5 1/2 months of grinding baseball it comes down to playing the best two weeks of baseball. This makes people people in Kansas City and Cleveland have something to care about. Even with this new format, people in these cities are not coming to the games. There was 10,786 announced gate at a Rangers/Rays game on Tuesday. There was 60,870 at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers New Orleans Saints football game this past Sunday. I know football is king in this country, but come on Tampa Bay! You have a team that could win the World Series. The Buccaneers lost to the East Rutherford Jets in Week 1.
I had the privilege of attending the Atlanta Braves Washington Nationals day game yesterday. The Nationals have been playing fantastic baseball and have a real outside chance to make the playoffs in the National League if the Cincinnati Reds collapse. The announced gate was 25,066.. they were lucky if they had 8,000 people. To be fair, people were probably still spooked from the Navy Yard shooting the day prior. There was 82,743 at the Washington Redskins home opener. I sat 5 rows back and I think Bryce Harper was trying to use me as the cut off man in the 9th. It was a fantastic game with the Braves coming back from 3-0 to score 5 runs in the last three innings to take a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the 9th.
The Braves sent out their lights out closer Craig Kimbrel to finish the game. Kimbrel had not blown a save since early May. The Nationals willed there way to a win with walks and ground balls to a 6-5 win. I am pulling for the Nationals, but I do not think this city is equipped for playoff baseball. Any city where the majority of people are wearing jackets to a game that I get a sunburn at do not deserve Autumn baseball.
I had the privilege of attending the Atlanta Braves Washington Nationals day game yesterday. The Nationals have been playing fantastic baseball and have a real outside chance to make the playoffs in the National League if the Cincinnati Reds collapse. The announced gate was 25,066.. they were lucky if they had 8,000 people. To be fair, people were probably still spooked from the Navy Yard shooting the day prior. There was 82,743 at the Washington Redskins home opener. I sat 5 rows back and I think Bryce Harper was trying to use me as the cut off man in the 9th. It was a fantastic game with the Braves coming back from 3-0 to score 5 runs in the last three innings to take a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the 9th.
The Braves sent out their lights out closer Craig Kimbrel to finish the game. Kimbrel had not blown a save since early May. The Nationals willed there way to a win with walks and ground balls to a 6-5 win. I am pulling for the Nationals, but I do not think this city is equipped for playoff baseball. Any city where the majority of people are wearing jackets to a game that I get a sunburn at do not deserve Autumn baseball.
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